Shameless plug: Yoga class at Crossfit Uncensored is now Friday nights at 6:30pm

Here are my top 5 reasons why YOU should regularly attend a yoga class.

1. YOGA TRAINING CAN HELP YOUR CARDIO DURING WODS.

This may not make sense at first. How can yoga help boost your cardio? Simple: it’s all about the breath. Yoga develops and deepens the connection between your breath and your movement. You will learn how to align the two in order to be most efficient. Yoga teachers will guide your movement with breath cues to help streamline transitions between poses, or while holding a pose. This will translate over into your Crossfit workouts, which will allow more reps with less cardio output.

2. YOGA TRAINING WILL INCREASE JOINT RANGE OF MOTION.

By regularly practicing yoga, you will open up the necessary external rotation of the hips and shoulders to go deeper into your squats, and be more stable while pushing weight overhead. If pistols are an impossibility, or your heels come up during wall balls, practicing poses like Downward Facing Dog or Warrior1 will help open the ankles to allow for that crucial range of motion. Merely doing a 10 minute warm up and quick stretch before each workout will not adequately relieve the stressors of your general immobility.

3. A REGULAR YOGA PRACTICE CAN AID IN INJURY PREVENTION.

This one is just plain common sense. Or is it? Lengthening tight muscles, moving joints through full range of motion, placing your body in positions that are safe and therapeutic, using your core to support movement of the limbs, are all ways to lessen the impact that intense Crossfit workouts have on the body.

4. YOGA CLASS WILL HELP YOU REST AND RECOVER FOR YOUR NEXT CROSSFIT WORKOUT.

Usually, if you’ve gotten the most from your daily WOD, you will leave the gym feeling like you need a siesta, or maybe that you’ve been hit by a train. At the end of each yoga class, you will get a 5 minute opportunity to nap, or at least relax deeper than you ever thought possible, which will leave you feeling rested and rejuvenated for the next workout. The intensity that Crossfit demands can wreck havoc on your body, so learning and allowing yourself to rest and recover will only help you on your road to attain your fitness goals.

5. PRACTICING YOGA WILL HELP YOU CULTIVATE PATIENCE IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIFE.

For most Crossfit athletes, yoga will not be easy at first. In fact, I’ve heard from many Crossfitters just how frustrating their first few yoga classes were. By committing fully to yourself for that hour on your mat, and gently pushing yourself through the uncomfortability of falling over when practicing to balance on one foot, THAT builds patience. Sweating profusely while standing upright with one knee bent like in Warrior2, can be very humbling to someone with a sub 3-minute Fran time. Slowing down your movement and breath, and just feeling the life move inside of you (prana) will undoubtably translate into your life outside of yoga class.

Do yourself (and your overhead squat) a favor and make a conscious, consistent effort to regularly attend a yoga class at your Crossfit box or local yoga studio. The benefits are far greater than anything a simple blog post could list. And don’t say you’re not flexible enough for yoga, that ‘s like saying you’re not fit enough to do Crossfit!

Crossfit Uncensored offers yoga classes to their members with no additional charge.

Tuesdays & Thursdays at 6:30am: 30 minute yoga and mobility followed by the 7am Crossfit class